The less talked about credit card features

[Anonymous]

Most of the time when people discuss a credit card, or even if you read reviews on them, the same things are discussed: APRs, rewards, SUBs, benefits, eligibility, CLI HP vs. SP, etc.

But some cards/issuers have features that never seem to be mentioned in reviews, or discussions.  Some of them I find quite useful, or wish certain cards had.  Such as:

* Ability to instantly lock or unlock the card, say if you lose it.  A handy way to prevent fraud if you misplace the card, or to even prevent use or fraud while in the sock drawer.  AFAIK, Discover, Citi, Chase, and Amex offer this.  BofA does not except on debit cards.  I don't know about other issuers.

* Virtual card numbers for online/phone orders.  BofA, CapOne and Citi offer this AFAIK.  Useful if you need to order something online on a site where you aren't sure how "safe" they are from being breached or hacked.

* Text/email notifications.  Most cards offer these, but some issuers do a better job with this than others.  The best ones are the ones where you get notified as soon as a charge is authorized, and you can set a minimum amount as low as 1 cent if you want notifications for all charges (great way to catch fraud quickly, if you have your phone handy when it happens).  Chase notifications are great, I often get them within seconds of swiping the card.  BofA... meh.  Most of their notifications aren't sent until the charge posts.

* Ability to do things online vs. calling/writing/email/SM:  this varies from issuer to issuer, depending on what you want to do.  Most issuers let you request a CLI online but not all.  A few let you reallocate limits between cards online (Amex I think?)  Few if any let you CLD online, or close your account.  I guess they want you to call or message for those sorts of things.  Product change requests usually require a call.  Many but not all let you dispute a charge online (Synchrony doesn't based on a thread I read recently).  AUs can often be added online but require a call to remove.

Any other cool features that some issuers have you wish they all had?  Or things they don't you wish they did?

[wasCB14]

I really like card-not-present transaction alerts.

I dont know why my Chase cards have been particularly affected compared to my also-often-used Amex and Citi cards, but on several occasions my card info has been stolen. Thanks to these alerts, it has been a generally quick (the first one took a bit longer) dispute and replacement process.

[kdm31091]

I think it's fun that Discover has so many designs to choose from, and I'm surprised other issuers don't do something like that. I know a lot of consumers probably don't care much, but it would be nice if issuers at least offered a range of colors for each product.

[Anonymous]

I like the different designs for Discover too. I currently have Plum.

I was out shopping last month and someone noticed my nails matched my credit card 🤷‍♀️👍

[wasCB14]

I expect that part of Discover's design flexibility is due to its lack of cobrand partnerships or tiered cards (assuming Premium Plus is dead).

If Delta Gold came in pink or Delta Platinum in blue then I expect it could lead to a lot of customer confusion!

[Anonymous]

I love Navy Federal's Member Deals -- pretty much every store I shop at except Amazon ends up in there and it helps me rack up extra cash back on my More Rewards which has a difficult to hit $50 redemption threshold.

Capital One and AMEX are my two favorite apps. I really love how many alerts you can set for an AMEX card and the Capital One interface is visually appealing while still remaining very functional.

I concur on being able to lock/unlock cards. I can do it with Capital One, SSFCU, Disco, DCU, BBVA, and NFCU right in the app. DCU even lets you specify what kinds of transactions are allowed on your credit or debit card with a great degree of customization down to business type and location -- its too bad their card offerings are so lackluster otherwise.

I like the peace of mind that Capital One's Eno gives me if I'm shopping online. I can make a virtual credit card for any purchase I make for those sites that don't take PayPal and I can turn them on and off. Might actually pull all my cards from PSN and Xbox and other services and give them all unique VCCs that I can turn on and off that way if there's ever a breach somewhere, my card is still safe.

[wasCB14]

If an issuer let customers request CLDs online or especially through phone apps, I wonder what share of those "requests" would be from fat fingers or people who didn't understand what they were doing. It might increase the need for human CSRs rather than decrease it.

We would even need the term "butt CLDing". My phone has a password, but nonetheless I'm very glad that's not a thing (AFAIK).

[AverageJoesCredit]

I wish credit cards got stealth tec. I dont care about paying on a phone or no card present hoopla, i want to whip out my Stealth Cash Back card and watch in delight as the cashier tries to find it as they are swiping! Yeah baby, Ill call it the John Wick Now you see It Now you dont Discover It 2020 Limited Edition 117

[kdm31091]

If you dig around a bit on Discover's site, there is actually a "request credit line decrease" link which would be useful to those who want to get their limit to a round number. Instead of trying to beg for that extra $200 increase you could just round it down to whatever you wanted.

If you click "help" and then "all contact info" you get an expanded menu of options on the site one of which is CLD. The page asks for the exact amount you want to CLD to.

[Anonymous]

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@kdm31091 wrote:

I think it's fun that Discover has so many designs to choose from, and I'm surprised other issuers don't do something like that. I know a lot of consumers probably don't care much, but it would be nice if issuers at least offered a range of colors for each product.

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That's definitely a niche that Discover holds well and seemingly no one else has attempted to embrace.  Another that I used to think was sort of cool was the ability to upload an image to Capital One and have it displayed on your card, completely personalizing it.